Things that remind me of home

Nothing brings me back to my childhood in Trinidad like hanging up clothes to dry on a line. I remember watching my mother hand wash loads and loads of clothes for her family of 7 and hang them all on the line behind our house. I remember the special sound her hands would make as she rubbed the material in between both closed fists and I would try and fail to make that same sound, which to me signaled that the clothes had been washed right. Today I decided to take advantage of the beautiful and bright Aotearoa sun, and put my clothes on the line instead of in the dryer. Hang drying clothes is very common here and in many households, having a dryer is rare. As we enter our summer I plan on using this line more often.

I will never stop sharing pictures of beautiful oceans. Another beach visited for the first time over the weekend. Another opportunity to reflect on the wonders of God's creations. I know that my childhood was blessed. To have a connection to the ocean made me and my family rich indeed. I feel so blessed to have been born in the Caribbean and I am grateful for the childhood I was able to have because of it. The water may have been cooler than the warm waters of my homeland, but the parallels were not missed by me. It is often easy to only remember the struggle and the otherness and the uncertainty and the homesickness that came after leaving Trinidad, but when hanging clothes, or walking along the beach, I can push forward into my mind, the strong foundation of safety and security that I was given. I hope that our children are able to think back as nostalgically to their childhood as I do to mine.